Zack Kopplin to be honored by New Orleans Secular Humanist Association

Zack Kopplin, the teenage son of Mayor Mitch Landrieu's
top aide, has been waging a personal crusade to repeal a state law
that's seen by some as a ploy to allow the biblical creation story to
enter the science curriculum.

View full sizeBrett Duke, The Times-Picayune archiveScience textbooks are gathered in advance of the 2007-08 school year at Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School.

Though the effort failed, Kopplin's
campaign to scuttle the Louisiana Science Education Act will be
recognized today by the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association, which
will present its "Humanist Award" to the recent Baton Rouge high school
graduate.

Association President Harry Greenberger said the plaque
his group is presenting to Kopplin will recognize "his dedication to the
separation of religion from government, to the separation of faith from
science in education and for his relentless efforts" to repeal the
curiously titled law.

While he has no idea where Kopplin stands
on religion, Greenberger said, he believes the honoree espouses at least
one of the association's guiding principles: "to reject efforts to
denigrate human intelligence."

Kopplin, who with his family
attends University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, will enroll at
Rice University in Houston in the fall.

In testimony in December before members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education,
Kopplin, whose father is Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin,
sparred with leaders of the Louisiana Family Forum, who argued that
proposed new high school biology textbooks were too accepting of the
theory of evolution.

The younger Kopplin argued that up-to-date
biology texts are crucial to preparing Louisiana students to compete in a
global economy. While there are plenty of jobs for biologists, he said,
"there are zero creationist jobs. Zero."

Andy Kopplin hasn't
delved into the science-education debate, but earlier this year he
called his eldest child "smart, courageous and relentless" and added:
"I'm extraordinarily proud of him."